NEW YORK FASHION WEEK is due to kick off a week on Monday, followed by London, Milan and then Paris ?but next year the industry's biggest event will bring them all together along with leading fashion designers from a total of 38 countries. The first ever World Fashion Week will be launched at a premiere on December 7 this year at the Kodak Theatre in LA ?traditionally the home of the Academy Awards ceremony. Following that, it will be held as a 7-day, "Olympic-style" event that will bring the international fashion circuit to a close each year. As well as giving designers recognition as individuals and as representatives of their countries and cultures, the initiative is "an opportunity to celebrate the diversity of ideas, perspectives and achievements in fashion," says Los Angeles Mayor, Antonio R Villaraigosa, adding that "together in partnership we can make a positive impact". In a bid to give greater grounding to the Fashion For Peace initiative, the sixth day of the event will double as a huge, international fundraising effort for humanitarian causes. A 'World Fashion Telethon' will take place in all participating countries which currently include Argentina, Australia, Austria, Belgium, Brazil, Canada, Chile, China, Croatia, Czech Republic, Denmark, Finland, Germany, Greece, India, Ireland, Japan, Kenya, Korea, Lebanon, Malaysia, Mexico, Netherlands, Poland, Portugal, Russia, Serbia, Singapore, South Africa, Spain, Sweden, Swtizerland, Thailand and Turkey as well as the US, the UK, France and Italy.
